Birds of a Feather
by Spectrum of Life
Summary: The Joker is wreaking havoc again, but this time it gets personal. Batman goes missing without a trace, and Nightwing and Robin team up for a rescue mission. But when Nightwing disappears, and Robin is lost, who will be there to save them? Rob Star, NW HQ
1. Chapter 1

**This is the beginning of an awesome story, lemme tell you. I'm posting this through a friend (Who can be found as F8WUZL8), and she convinced me to write it (she loves angst sooo much.) **

**It's a crossover between Batman: The Animated Series and Teen Titans, but I normally just categorize them as one world.**

**Read, Relax, Review!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nada. Zilch.**

That case... that stupid case! Robin flung the case across the dimly lit room, glaring at it as it hit the wall with a satisfying _thunk, _then fell to the floor, sitting there in the shadows, not even flinching under Robin's hate-filled glare. And yet...

Robin walked over towards the case, reaching into the shadows to trace the symbol on the top, then twisting the (R), removing the cap to reveal the original seal on the case: a bat with wings outstretched. He opened the case, revealing an empty felt interior. He opened the false top, running his gloved fingers over the glossy photograph of the smiling boy. The happy child, embraced by his parents, not a care in the world. Robin closed the compartment, opening the false bottom, the only section he'd shown his friends. In it, Robin glanced at the photo of his second home. Two stoic-faced heroes glanced with equal impassiveness back at him. This was the second boy. Still a child, still seeking a parent's love and protection, but not yet knowing, but for his deepest of hearts, that he would never find that acceptance again. He looked down at the blinking transmitter. He had promised himself that he would not be the first to use this communicator. He would die before turning back to Batman without him seeking Robin out first. He closed the false bottom, and then the case itself, locking it firmly.

Robin stormed out of his "investigation room", as he had dubbed it in his mind, walking down the hall to the main area of the Titans Tower. Lost in thought, something caught his eye, something truly frightening. Robin backtracked to where the mirror had caught his attention. There it was. Here was the man those children had become. No. Not a man. Just a mask. Just a mask to protect the broken, shattered soul within from the cold indifferance of the world around him. He surprised himself by chuckling to himself softly. He'd become what he'd feared most all along; from the circus freak, to the lost "sidekick", to the indrawn "hero" the rest of the world thought of him as: he'd become just another impassive face. Just another of the cold faces that had always been turned upon him, haunting him i his nightmares. No care for the circus boy, performing lighthearted tricks for the audience fortunate enough to go to school. No love for the orphan boy, desperately seeking some part of his old life in this new, heartless world... and no protection for the broken soul that hid its anguish beneath cold indifferance.

He wouldn't let them. He'd never let them. Not in a million years would he let them try to cage him again, pin him with their false promises. No. This Robin would fly free. This Robin would fly onwards, into the sky, until his heart gave up on him, and he plummetted into his grave far below. Robin will fly free.

**So how was that? Short, yea, but it's only the prologue!!! **

**R+R!**

**-Spectrum**


	2. Chapter 2

**First chappie! YAAY! Less angsty as the prologue, but it's like, _impossible _to be angsty when you get up in the morning! (I'm like BeastBoy in the morning. Who are you like?)**

Robin awoke to the flashing red light of an emergency transmission. He half sat up, propping himself up on his elbow to get a full view of his alarm clock. He noted with a groan that it was 1:48 am. Robin's head was muddled by the early hour. _Even if evil never slept, why did it have to keep waking up the good guys?_ He thought angrily as he stumbled towards the main room of the tower.

The rest of the Titans had already assembled. "Good morrow to you, Robin!" exclaimed Starfire happily. What was she so happy about? "It is most marvelous to be awakening to begin our day early, is it not?" No, no it was most definitely _not_.

The only one who seemed as unhappy as he was in the group was Beastboy, who was standing in the far corner, muttering to himself darkly. The only words Robin made out made no sense individually, "... elf ... magic ... school ... ring ... precious ..." Robin decided that listening to Beastboy's confusing jabber was not going to help him make sense of the situation he already felt hopelessly lost in, so he turned to the source of his troubles: the tower's main frame computer. Robin was glad he wasn't wearing any shoes, or else he might have been sorely tempted to chuck one at the large, blinking screen and shuffle back to bed.

He almost mourned for the loss of that golden opportunity to cut his losses before he rushed off on some crazy, action-packed mission in the middle of the night. But instead, he marched right up to that stupid, red-blinking screen that had just passed Slade on Robin's most-hated list, and activated the video feed. Their caller's face popped up on the screen. Of course. It couldn't have been _any_ of their enemies. It couldn't have been _any_ of their other friends. No, the universe hated Robin so much that it couldn't have been any other person in the world; because they would have called at even a _slightly_ reasonable hour! No, their caller had to be

"Nightwing." said Robin.

"Howsit goin', Grayson?" asked Nightwing, smiling slightly.

"Huh?" asked Robin blearily, even more confused now than he was before. In reply, Nightwing fingered his mask, now openly grinning. Robin's own hand shot up to his face, groping for the reassuring feel of the one-way-cloth of his mask. Not finding it, he swore under his breath. Luckily, none of the other Titans had seen him in the dim light of the emergency alerts. But Robin still felt uneasy.

Nightwing laughed. "Relax, Grayson, geez! It's no big deal! You're among friends here!" Robin couldn't help cracking a smile at the ridiculousness of the moment.

"So what's going on? You haven't called since... since... I don't know when. And why the emergency channel?" asked Robin, thoroughly confused.

"I got an emergency beacon from our Batty Old Man. It said to get the old team together. Something important, I'm sure. I hit a dead end with Bat Girl's witness protection paperwork, so I thought I might as well call you. You ready for another 'secret mission'?" Nightwing explained, though his tone was still light from laughing.

"Which one? Penguin? Cat? Joker?" he asked, quickly running through the way overlong list of people who hated the old team.

"My guess would be Joker." said Nightwing, sobering down slightly.

"Why's that? What's the scenario?" Robin said, unrelenting in his query.

"I could run through a list of diagnostics, fingerprinting, footsteps, witnesses.... but I think the dead giveaway was the giant Joker card graffiti on the side of the Batmobile." said Nightwing, clearly struggling to keep a straight face at the memory.

"Where was Batman's signal transmitted from?" asked Robin, fighting a smile.

"Somewhere in Gotham. Satellite wasn't too specific. We'll look into it more once we meet up with Bat Girl." Nightwing said.

"Then I'd better let you get on with it." said Robin.

"Okay then, see ya!" Nightwing said, about to terminate their communication.

"Wait! One more thing!" exclaimed Robin.

"Yes? What is it?" Nightwing paused.

"Why do you always call in the middle of the night?" he asked in exasperation.

"Because, silly Robin, you're so much more fun when you can't think straight!" Nighwing laughed, and he terminated their emergency line before Robin could get in another word.

**So that was the first chappie! REVIEWWW!!!!! Please?**

**~Spectrum**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, here's the next chapter! I mean, it's not like anyone reviewed (...-_-...) So anyway... Enjoy! and PLEASE REVIEW!**

Nightwing paced towards the home, abolutely positive that he had the wrong place. He felt strange, and not just because of the pleasant suburban setting. He hadn't seen Bat Girl in years, and now he expected her to just uproot her life again and follow him into the fray?

No, that wasn't what he was worried about. The Bat Girl he knew wouldn't let him finish a sentence before charging into action, with or without Nightwing. What he was worried about wasn't that Bat Girl wouldn't come; it was that there was no Bat Girl any longer. He stood before the front door, fidgeting in his black hoodie and jeans. Then, he rang the door bell before his more rational side could chime in, reminding him what a stupid idea this was. The chime echoed with a sort of finality. Nightwing heard footsteps, and the door opened to reveal a face that was both as familiar as his own reflection, and as foriegn as the surface of the moon.

The welcoming smile dissappeared in an instant, and those perfect blue eyes widened ever so slightly. But then she seemed to get a hold of herself, and the smile reappeared, though this time it was more brittle, and it didn't reach her eyes. "Can I get you anything, sir?" she asked pleasantly, though Nightwing knew how much the effort must have cost her.

"Hi. I'm looking for..." he looked at the name scribbled on his hand in blue ink, "Julia Smith?" he refused to meet her gaze.

"Then you've come to the right place!" she said, gesturing for him to follow with one ringed hand while opening the door wider with the other. They walked through the entry hall, and once again Nightwing marvelled at how normal it all seemed. And neat. Bat Girl had never been neat. "Dan! There's someone here I want you to meet!" she called, leading him into a small but cozy-seeming living room, seating herself on the small sofa while Nightwing took the chair opposite. A moment later, a man walked into the room, taking the seat beside Julia. She smiled at him, as if she could find the secret to life itself in his face, then turned back to Nightwing.

"Dan, this is-"

"Tim Wayne. I'm Julia's foster brother." Nightwing offered, extending his hand, the non-inky one, for the man to shake. The man shook it.

"Dan Evans. I'm Julia's fiancee." Dan said, smiling warmly at Nightwing. Nightwing supposed he looked nice enough.

"And he knows. _Everything._" continued Julia, addressing Nightwing once more.

"Then you'll know why I'm here." he said, not smiling in the slightest, let alone warmly. He couldn't help it. He hated this guy's guts. Everytime Julia-- yes. That was all she was now. Every time she smiled at _him_, she became her more and more. A stranger. An outsider. Every time she stared at _him_ with those brilliant blue eyes, so hauntingly familiar and yet so foriegn and strange, the section of his foolish, trusting heart that she'd once warmed with that very same look grew colder and colder.

As Nightwing left that house, that same foolish heart closed up once more, chilled to stone, retracting to protect itself from the harsh blows of those few he'd ever let within. Deep in thought, Nightwing walked down the street towards the car he'd arrived in, in what seemed lifetimes ago. He slammed the door a bit harder than necessary, and turned the key in the admission as though to snap it in half. The car rumbled to life, but then something happened. A green gas curled out of the a/c vent, twisting in the air around him lazily.

Nightwing laughed hysterically, his face twisting into an unholy grin, nerves ablaze in a thousand deaths apiece, he fell to the floor, blood trickling from his maniacally laughing mouth. The last thing he heard as his consciousness slipped under the extreme pain, was his own crazed laughter ringing in his ears.

**... OOOOhhh creepy. REVIEW!**


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